? Will staying in the 300's cause organ damage?

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

dman777

Member Since 2015
For the past year, my cat has diabetes that is hard to treat because it can occasionally dip with no reason, causing hypoglycemia. My Vet has tried Lantus and Prozinc. We stick with Prozinc, it is easier for him to recover from the dips since they do not last as long.

Usually, my cat will stay in the 300's. It hard to keep him under the 300's because when the dips happen then it's a nightmare. He doesn't get keytones from being in the 300's. Will staying in the 300's cause damage to his organs?
 
Staying in the 300's will likely shorten his life compared to if BG were maintained lower.
Does yur cat (name?) have any underlying health problems? My Badger has similar erratic BGs and I tried N, ProZinc, Levemir, Lantus and BCP PZI. It seems that erratic BGs were due to a chronic ear infection due to polyps. About a year ago I had the polyps surgically removed and now I can maintain his BG below 130 with about 1/4 of the insulin dose I was using before.
 
@Larry and Kitties
I saw your last post .I have to ask how the vet diagnosed ear polyps?
Fritz has had ear issues in the past.
I notice him lip licking and breathing funny while trying to go to see. I did see that there are other things that could be wrong.
He has a clear waxy film in his ears. I asked the vet to check his ears and she said she looked saw nothing. But in 2008 and 2010 he had some sort of something in his left ear. I should have followed up then. Im not trying to find things wrong with him I just want to be on top of his health. Just last werk the vet put in on Clavamox and Cerenia for possible URI. He threw up so much I said Im done with that. Hiw do they know its URI? Any thoughts?
 
How would the 300s shorten my cats life? Other than keytones I mean....

I've taken him to internalist and ran all kinds of tests. They can't find what is causing the resistance to insulin and it something I just have to live with.
 
After reading your signature is the f word really necessary bleeped or not? High numbers can cause organ damage, ketones etc. If you dont want to do the excel sheets can you scan the numbers you have for your cat for us to see? Data is important. The "dips" could of meant the dose was to high and would drop him to low. The dry food is also leading to high numbers. There is a dry food called young again zero which is dry and 0 carbs they also send free sample if you ask https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/ The other dry food would be evo which is lower in carbs.
 
Last edited:
dman777 said:
How would the 300s shorten my cats life? Other than keytones I mean....

I've taken him to internalist and ran all kinds of tests. They can't find what is causing the resistance to insulin and it something I just have to live with.
Click to expand...
I am not understanding what you mean. If your cats numbers are in 300's obviously from the food being higher in carbs and the insulin was bringing him down 7 hours later like it is supposed to that does not mean your cat is resistant to insulin. The insulin is working it is just the odds of remission probably won't happen.
 
Well from your signature, it doesn't look like you really want to take any of our other advice that could help, so I'll just answer your question

Numbers that stay in the 300's will gradually destroy kidneys and other internal organs. Diabetes doesn't kill our sugarcats...the complications of diabetes does
 
Having a cat with diabetes is very stressful, especially at the beginning.

As Chris said, having a cat in the 300s is damaging to the cat. But this can be turned around and reparable with the right treatment.

Prozinc can be successful in some cats with the right diet. Dry food can hinder that, but if your cat refuses to eat canned food, there are a couple that might work. Young again zero or evo dry are lower in carbs.

However, I would encourage you to keep trying canned, because that will really help the best. There are a lot of great tips for transitioning on catinfo.org.

If you are able to make the food switch and the Prozinc isn't working in a month or two, I would consider giving the Lantus another shot with a lower carb diet. It has been proven to have really good results, and I speak from experience. My own kitty has been diabetic for 7 years now and is doing great. :-)

I hope you find something that works for you.
 
300 is above the renal threshold, so yes, staying above 300 will cause organ/tissue damage long term. And glucose toxicity, which will increase insulin resistance. If you're cat is staying above 300, your vet should realize that the insulin resistance is due to glucose toxicity. If not overcome, then yeah, you "have to live with it". But your cat will have a shorter life.
Here is some good reading, and maybe share it with your vet.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/feline-diabetes-and-glucose-toxicity-links.62960/

I'd also mention that if you don't believe "Every Cat Is Different", as a fact or as an answer to some of your questions, then sorry, you're not going to find lots of answers to your questions. Your cat is different than every other cat that any of us have ever had with diabetes. If they were all the same, then either every one would go into remission like mine did, or none of then would ever go into remission. What worked for my cat worked for my cat. I've never seen any other cat in the five years I've been here that what treated the same way as my cat was, and chances are, if they had been they would not have gotten the same results.

You can work around the dry food. It will probably require higher doses of insulin than you would need if your cat conformed to a low carb wet diet. But not all cats do or will. Great that you are home testing. If you don't use a Spreadsheet, I at least hope you are keeping a log of your own so that you can see "history". I never had a SS either, just kept a hand-written log. It will be nearly impossible to get a handle on things if you don't at least do that. People here will have a hard time helping you deal with this logically with no spreadsheet, because that is the way all of us are "wired". As long as you have a good record of his numbers, then at least you have something to look at to try to make sense of numbers, doses, etc. But you'll pretty much be flying solo if you have questions about dosage, unless you can use your vet for that.

Personally, in your shoes, I would edit my signature. Screaming in ALL CAPS at people wanting to help you figure this out is probably not going to find you much in the way of help. Just my opinion.
 
It isn't just the high glucose levels that are a concern in diabetes.
Without insulin, the body cannot use the glucose produced from metabolized food.
This leads to the breakdown of body fats for calories.
  • A by-product of fat breakdown is ketones; too many ketones will make the body's pH more acid. At the extreme, it results in diabetic ketoacidosis. That can be fatal.
  • Additionally, if the fat release from cells is large, it can overwhelm the liver, causing disruption of digestion and a back up of bile into the blood stream. A sign of this is yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes, called jaundice. At the extreme, it results in hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver). That, too, can be fatal.
 
My own cat was mostly in high numbers for the first couple of years after his diagnosis, and sometimes in very high numbers for long periods. Then his numbers started to improve and are pretty good these days.
He's been on insulin for 9 and a half years and is now 17 years old. His recent examination and bloodwork showed everything as normal, so, no evidence of organ damage... Maybe he's a particularly tough cookie. I don't know... :rolleyes:
.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top